


Meteorshards

by TimidMarshmallow



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 22:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21381829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimidMarshmallow/pseuds/TimidMarshmallow
Summary: There are a lot of untouched crystals just laying around forgotten in that base...Well, retrieving them would be a bother anyway. Right, Prompto?
Kudos: 8





	Meteorshards

“Ignis, I’m heading out again.” Prompto listened to his friend’s voice through the phone. It sounded tired. They were all tired, it was impossible to sleep comfortably in the long darkness. The blond himself had bags under his eyes that were concerning. “Where will you be headed now, Prompto?”

“Out by Cauthess, some hunters and a few glaives asked me to join them.” 

“Cauthess? Perpetuoss Keep is within the vicinity. I don’t think anyone has entered to retrieve the meteorshards within.” Ignis paused right after reminding his friend, almost as if he immediately regretted bringing it up. “I would not be surprised if they are still there. It would make for a dangerous retrieval mission.”

“Oh yeah, I remember. There were some left over from when we fought Garuda. I wonder if Y’jhimei left before…” Prompto didn’t bother to finish his sentence. Hopefully the visitor from another world and her adorable fat chocobo had escaped before this mess began. “If I get a chance I’ll check it out. Maybe the group will be willing to get the stuff, it would be a huge help. You know, with the electricity and all that.” 

“Would you like me to see if Cor is able to accompany you?” 

“You don’t need to bother Cor. I can do this. Thanks though, Ignis. Bye.” 

“Hmm. Goodbye, Prompto.” 

-o-

The group that he helped did not want to risk their necks for ‘the small chance that a few shards were left’. They didn’t believe him that there were large deposits sitting untouched. To be fair, the mission had been a close call and they were lucky everyone survived. This was probably a contributing factor in their rejection of his claim. 

Prompto debated calling Ignis back. Then he remembered that his friend wanted to call The Immortal. Cor was always the first one to head out in the ‘morning’ and the last one to return at ‘night’. It was hard to keep steady hours with the sky as it was, but somehow Cor managed. The gunner didn’t know how though. He didn’t even look any worse than the rest of them, and he was already over the proverbial hill. Not that Prompto would ever say that out loud. It wouldn’t do to insult such a badass. 

Anyway, he couldn’t call Ignis or Cor. They were probably busy with their own tasks. 

“If you won’t go in, will you at least drop me off by the gate?” Prompto figured if he could get photographic proof then a team, any team, would be happy to help him. It was worth a shot. “Please?”

“Your funeral, kid.” The driver climbed back into the truck and motioned for him to board the vehicle with the rest of the group. 

“Hopefully not. Thank you.” 

The truck driver kept his word and delivered the gunner to the doorstep. “Hey, how’re you gonna get back to Lestallum?” 

“I’ll think of something.” Prompto watched as the vehicle left him alone in the dark. “Alright. Just gotta snap a few shots and then I can go. Not too hard.” 

The photographer entered the base and crept past the floating node. It was still weird to see friendly versions of the enemy he had encountered in Niflheim. Yeah, he had technically ‘met’ this one first… but he had fought more of the defense and attack nodes so the machines unsettled him. It was bad enough passing the bright INGEM each time he needed to see Cid. The old mechanic still adjusted weapons for him, just as he had done for Noct. 

Pushing thoughts of Hammerhead and Cindy aside, Prompto tried to open the gate. “Damn it. Locked…” 

Guess it was time for the long way. He sloshed through the muddy puddles, wondering if the animals still took refuge here. Daemons could technically get inside, nobody was home to turn on the lights and doors weren’t a problem. They always just bubbled up from the floor. But would the creatures enter the base just to attack a few frogs and cats? 

There was no sign of the Ixal either. Prompto let out a sigh of relief, the foreigners hadn’t seemed the friendliest. He doubted they would be too fond of his flash photography anyway. 

He made it to where he had first seen the crystals through the gate all those years ago. He had pointed it out to the others then, but now he just pointed his camera. It didn’t matter that the chain links would show up in the shot. The picture clearly displayed that he had been telling the truth. Crushed chunks of meteorshards lay in the same spot that they had been left in. After the fight with Garuda nobody had really been concerned with sweeping up. 

Prompto turned to hurry out of the too quiet base. 

-o-

As he left the keep he made the mistake of thinking ‘well, that was easy’. Daemons decided to ambush him halfway down the road. 

Prompto kicked one back and followed up with a shot from his pistol. He needed to move away so he could safely load a starshell, but the damn creatures were swarming him. Their little hands and claws grabbed at him, and he swung his arms in an attempt to block some of their advances. If they pulled him down it would be over. 

No! Cauthess’ rest area was so close, he couldn’t fall here!! 

He punched the daemon holding his other arm. Hearing the all too familiar hum of a magitek airship, he cursed. He did not need magitek right now. He should have called for back up. No, he shouldn’t have even come to confirm. Of course the meteorshards were here. No one could just grab them and walk away, a whole team would have been needed to lift just one chunk! He would have heard the joyous news that a large deposit had been found. 

Hindsight wasn’t helping him though, so he shot another daemon. He heard the door of the airship open. Risking a glance up, he saw one figure drop down. Unfortunately a moment of distraction was all the little hellions needed. Two of them grabbed Prompto’s ankles and yanked. 

Crashing to the ground didn’t stop the spray of bullets, the blond was used to being on the floor while fighting. Noctis had expressed concern when the trip first started, ‘you’re always getting knocked, hang back, you’ve got a long distance weapon’, but Prompto managed to make it work. He continued to do so now. 

The figure had been drawing closer as he fought for his life. 

Prompto thanked each and every astral when he heard a familiar battle grunt as Aranea saved him. The daemon trying to re-grab his kicking leg was shish-kabobbed by the beloved Stoss spear of his favorite Niflheim native. “On your feet, Shortcake.” 

“Aranea!” Prompto scrambled up. “Am I glad to see you!” 

“You can thank me later, now fight.” While it had been too many monsters for one fighter to handle, it was not too many for two fighters to demolish. Prompto shot a daemon that was behind Aranea, saving her from a nasty clawing. His choice to aid his ally came with consequences. Once again he found himself on the ground as the monster that knocked him down grabbed the ends of his hair. It yanked, and Prompto grabbed at his head in reaction to the pain. 

Aranea swung the thing off of him with her spear so she could properly stab it. That daemon was the last one. 

“My perfectly groomed hair…” His hairstyle, like his Crownsguard uniform, was a symbol that displayed his loyalty to royalty. Now strands of his hair lay sadly in his hands, the daemon had tried to play barber. Unfortunately it was not a very good one. “Aranea, my-“

“Are you seriously about to cry? Over your hair?” 

Prompto was NOT crying. Yeah, his voice cracked, and maybe he was being the tiniest bit irrational, but now he wouldn’t be exactly the same when Noct came back! Now they couldn’t just pretend that everything had been okay, that Noct hadn’t been gone that long, they were still the same as before and Ardyn hadn’t stolen anything more from them with his stupid eternal darkness-

“Seriously, stop staring at your hands. We’ve got to move before more show up.” Aranea was right, of course, so Prompto let the remains of his butchered haircut fall out of his grasp. He stood up. The ex-commodore put an arm around his waist and performed her highwind jump. Her passenger wasn’t too chatty. In addition to the hair issue, he was also coping with the fact that his head hurt. Stupid daemons. Not only did they cause pride wounds, but physical ones too? This was the worst. 

“Hey. It won’t take us long to get back to Lestallum.” Aranea lowered her voice. 

Now that he had been deposited onto the airship’s floor, Prompto sighed and spoke. “How did you know I was here? This is the second time you’ve dropped in out of nowhere. Not that I’m not grateful!” 

“Your pal Ignis called and said you were heading out. I knew that meant trouble, so I figured I’d better come get you before anything happened.” Aranea crossed her arms. “So, was this trip even worth it?” 

“Yeah. Look. Hopefully they’ll send a team out, this many meteorshards could generate a lot of power.” Prompto pulled out his camera. He showed her the result of his excursion, and she whistled. “That’s the biggest deposit I’ve ever seen.” 

He nodded. “This is enough for a week or more. ...Thanks for coming for me.” 

“No problem. Let’s get you home, Shortcake.” 

-o-

Ignis ran his hand through the damaged hair. Gladio, who was across the table from his friends, hummed noncommittally as he also assessed the locks. Prompto rubbed at his arm, unsure of what the older men would say.

It was the shield who spoke first. “It’s not that bad. Not your usual style, but you don’t look hideous.” 

Ignis furrowed his brows, still able to deliver a disappointed stare. “You’re quite the wordsmith. Don’t mind him, Prompto. It doesn’t feel much shorter than how you used to wear it.”

“Do you want me to call Iris? She can trim the edges to make it look deliberate.” Gladio didn’t wait for a confirmation, instead he just pulled out his phone and started tapping. “I think you should trim it a bit shorter so the daemons can’t grab you again. What were you even thinking, going out alone?” 

“I had to make sure of something.”

“What, you had to make sure your camera still worked? Or that someone would still come save your ass-“ “Gladio!” 

“No, Ignis, he’s… right. He’s right. I should’ve accepted your offer to take backup. If you hadn’t sent Aranea then I would’ve lost more than just some of my hair.” Prompto put his head in his hands and leaned onto the table. “How long do we have to keep fighting like this?” 

Ignis’ frown deepened. “He’s coming back.” 

Gladio’s phone rang before they could argue about how that was known or the length of time they’d need to wait. Iris’s voice was just as tired as everyone else’s while they spoke over the phone. She tried to stay chipper, but everybody could still tell. “I got your text. When do you want me to come over?” 

“Prompto? Your hair, your call.” Gladio passed the phone to his youngest friend. “Hi, Iris. Could it be sometime today? I… I miss my perfectly styled hair, ha.”

“I’ll be right over. I’m glad you’re okay.” 

“Thanks. See you soon.” Prompto hung up. Ignis put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re still you, even with a new hairstyle.” 

Prompto reached up to place his hand over the one on his shoulder. “I know. Don’t worry, I won’t have another identity crisis.” The first one wasn’t fun. 

-o-

The mirror did the only thing it could: stare back. 

Prompto ran his hand through his hair again, still not used to it ending earlier than before. Iris had mimicked the original style, even adjusting the top to match, but it was still a change and he still needed to adjust. “Well, I’ll save shampoo.” Less hair meant less to wash, so that was… good. Yeah. 

He brushed his teeth and went to bed. He’d let Monica know about the meteorshards tomorrow, hopefully she’d get a team ready.


End file.
